William Chapman, a former child actor in his 20s, died after entering a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, on Saturday afternoon.
South Yorkshire Police said he was pronounced dead at the scene after the attack.
The park was evacuated and remained closed while authorities investigated how he accessed the enclosure.
Chapman reportedly climbed over safety barriers before approaching Altai, a 200-kilogram male Siberian tiger. Witnesses described seeing him near the animal shortly before the fatal encounter.
Family Cites Mental Illness and Appeals for Privacy
Chapman's family confirmed that he had experienced significant mental illness over several years and had been prescribed strong medication.
They said the coroner would determine whether his medical circumstances contributed to his death.
The family said they were utterly devastated by their loss and struggling to come to terms with what had happened.
They asked people to stop publishing and circulating deeply offensive media content, saying it was causing them severe distress at an exceptionally vulnerable time.
In their statement, the family described William as a bright, warm and engaging young man whom they dearly loved, and said he loved them back.
They asked everybody to respect the coroner's process.
The family also appealed for privacy after videos of the incident and fabricated AI-generated footage circulated online. Police advised the public against sharing the material.
Chapman had attended Jackie Palmer Stage School in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
He appeared as a child in the ITV production May Contain Nuts and the BBC series True Stories.
The school expressed grief over the death of its former student and offered condolences to his relatives and friends.
It said it loved watching William grow as a person and as a performer, and that he would be remembered with great fondness.
Council Opens Health and Safety Investigation
City of Doncaster Council launched a health and safety investigation in its capacity as the park's licensing authority.
Dan Swaine, the council's executive director of place, said several agencies were involved in the response.
Swaine confirmed the council had launched the investigation in line with its statutory duties.
He said the council was working with multiple agencies, including the police and health agencies, and supporting the park.
He added that the council would not comment further on the individual or the investigation at this time.
He asked that the privacy of those involved be respected.
The park confirmed that Altai would not be euthanized and expressed sympathy for Chapman's family. Staff members were also receiving specialist support following the incident.
Wildlife experts said preventing every deliberate breach of enclosure barriers could be difficult, even at facilities with safety precautions.
Amy Dickman, a professor of wildlife conservation and director of WildCRU at the University of Oxford, cautioned against drawing conclusions about the park's safety before the investigation was complete.
Dickman said the harsh reality was that it is virtually impossible for zoos to stop people who are very determined to breach safety measures.
Campbell Murn, a conservation science lecturer at the University of Reading and former member of the government's zoo expert committee, said attractions receiving large numbers of visitors could not monitor every person continuously.
Murn said it was simply not possible at an attraction like Yorkshire Wildlife Park, which gets hundreds of thousands, if not over a million, visitors a year, to keep an eye on everybody all the time.
He added that security measures could reduce risks but could not guarantee that every incident would be prevented.
The Born Free Foundation, which campaigns to phase out zoos, called for an urgent review of how Chapman entered the enclosure and the events that followed.
The investigation is expected to examine the circumstances of the breach and the fatal attack.
